478 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



|Jau. 10, 1884. 



log tbe former, but I think flint I can confidently assure 

 your correspondent (in which T feel that 1 Will be home out 

 by the very large majority who have • 'practically tested 

 them upon game," having'uever before beard this objection 

 urged against them) that 4.40-90 Sharps will throw' B 500- 

 graiu bullet point on as iar as any Of US would can: to shoot 

 at game. Further than that I know not. nor do 1 care. 



D. M. B. 



PHILADELPHIA. 



w 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



,E arc to haw- Dr. Alfred Kdmuud Brehm, ut Berlin, 

 tiie eminent zoologist, to lecture for us in about a 

 week. On Jan. 16 hi.s subject will be ''Our Migrating Birds, 

 at Home and Abroad." On the 23d of the same mouth, 

 "Settlers and Exiles in Siberia." and tin tin- SStb, "Chairac 

 ter Sketches from tin- Lives of Monkeys.'' These disCOUrBes 

 will prow very interesting to lovers of naturrd history, aud 

 Will doubtless be well attended 



S\i\ William Kern, of Forest Hill. Cumberland countv, 

 V. J., has purchased all the wild cattle on Holly Beach, N. 

 J., and will shortly begin the work of running* them down 

 and sbootiug them. The cattle on this beach have become 

 very wild, are as tleel as deer, and the bulls and cows with 

 calves are very dangerous to approach. They have been 

 running at large on die island for year.-, and have multiplied 

 irreatlv. A few years since the firm of Gladding Brothers, 

 of Philadelphia, bought the right of shooting them, hut gave 

 it up as a bad job, as they found it too expensive and dan- 

 gerous. Mr. fvern seems to mean business, however, as he 

 bus provided a large wagon for transporting his "game." 

 ami is now putting up a slaughter-house on the grounds for 

 preparing the carcasses for market. 



From the interior of this State comes the unwelcome news 

 that the late rains have not caused tbe snow to disappear, 

 and the ground is still shrouded with an icy covering, made 

 jo by the freezing weather of trie past two days. Our 

 Pennsylvania game will no doubt suffer, and it behooves the 

 different inter-state protective societies to take steps toward 

 Cllriog for it. The new party of the West Jersey Game 

 Protective Association are making active preparations for 

 liberating a great many quail in the lower counties of the 

 State, many more birds, I learn, than have been put out 

 for years past. HoSIO, 



Puii.ADEi.pniA, Jan. 11. 



QUAIL, BEAR AND GROUSE. 



(1 AME of all varieties, both fur and feather, has not for 

 T many years been more numerous here in the central 

 portion of 'Pennsylvania than during the past season. This 

 region contains very tew pot. or professional hunters and all 

 the old hunters of "the hills are excellent game protectors. 

 They know nothing of improved repeating rifles, take no 

 stock in fancy bird dogs, and if you were "to show them a 

 "KynochV: patent perfect," they could not for the life of 

 themselves tell you what it is. These old fellows are a most 

 excellent class of men and with the flintlocks of their daddies 

 they will venture to shoot only at a gray squirrel, a grouse 

 ('•pheasant," they say) or some other game of equal size, 

 when it is at rest. I have often accompanied a hunter in his 

 squirreling trips into the hills, and have had some royal 

 sport on these occasions, but he would say. "If you fellows 

 come over here and shoot my quail I will have you arrested." 



I have tried to persuade some of these backwoodsmen that 

 to shoot quail in a legal and sportsmanlike manner would be 

 more plausible than to have them perish by cold and hunger 

 in the deep snows of winter; but they persist in saying. "No 

 quail shooting on my land," and during winter each farmer 

 will have a bevy of till) little innocents to care for and feed. 

 One man had a* flock of twenty come to his barnyard every 

 'day last winter and pick up feed with the domestic fouls: it 

 was a niosl beautiful sight to hcho'd, and the person who 

 would have attempted, to. sbool them during the day, in n 

 small patch of woodbind, where they stayed "between 



meals," would have had himself plugged with lead I'r the 



farmer's rifle. Another man in the same valley kept a strict 

 supervision over a flock of seventy quad during the past 

 season, and woe to the man that would encroach upon his 

 domain in pursuit of them. One day a party from a neigh- 

 boring town came out gunning and rambleil leisurely over 

 the farmer's fields. Unhitching a horse he had booked to.a 

 wagon in his cornfield, the fanner started in pursuit, of the 

 abominable town fellows, and leaping fences in a grand old 

 fox-hunting style he drove them entirely away. 



Thus these men men serve as game protectors in a certain 

 measure, and to have any quail shooting wfi are obliged to 

 hunt on the lowlands and along the creek. 



Your correspondent, "Homo," some-time ago mentioned 

 the killing of a bear in the vicinity of iVtittlinliurg. \ great 

 many bears have been trapped and shot on the Jack's and 

 the Shade mountains, in this county, during the past season; 

 but the one captured near Mirflinbiirg deserves especial men- 

 tion as being an unusually huge and a ferocious animal. 

 The bear was taken in a log trap" the first night it had been 

 opened for its reception, lie had for years "been prowling 

 about the neighborhood, and for a long time eluded all the 

 traps set for him. When found in the morning he was just 

 about to escape, after having torn out three of the powerful 

 logs in the den aud broken several of his claws, which were 

 oiTa monstrous size. On the breast of the bear was a white 

 heart-shaped spot, and this several of the hunters who 

 helped to slaughter him declared to be a signification, of 

 grizzly proclivities. Whether this be so or not your corre- 

 spondent does not profess to know, but the opinion of tbe 

 Forest and Stream iu the matter would serve as a de- 

 cision in a question which has for some tune bothered the 

 heads of a number of trappers and woodsmen hereabouts. 



In the Seven Mountains, Mifflin county, a large number 

 of deer were taken this seasou. Parties "having cabins up 

 there go into the mouutaius each fall for a two weeks' hunt, 

 and generally come away with a good supply of venison; 

 however, the hunters who have been out this fall declare 

 that more deer were seen and missed than ever before dur- 

 ing the hunting seasou. Three weeks ago a doe and a lawn 

 were chased off Jack's Mountain, anil they took refuge 

 among a farmer's cattle in the barnyard. The doe was shot 

 and the fawn escaped unhurt. 



Wild turkeys aud ruffed grouse were very numerous, a 

 great many turkeys having been shot. Opposite the creek 

 is a large ravine, grown up with bushes and sprouts of all 

 sorts, and here during the winter season a. great many grouse 

 congregate and loiter about the warm springs which give 

 rise to a. email stream there. Grouse winter here unmo- 

 lested, aud during the shooting season 1 1 1 1 > get up into the 

 thickets and very few of them are shot . -., ,'i bis place is fuirlv 



alive with grouse. If this article should happen to strike 

 tho eye of a sportsman who prides himself as being able to 

 get "nine out of ten shots at grouse iu the worst of cover" 

 (as Camp-flfa Flickering No. 58 says oi the commercial 

 traveller), to that gentleman 1 extend an invitatio 

 on next October and try his skill at grouse in Miildhcieck 

 Mouutain cover. I have shot some few grouse, quail, etc., 

 on the wing, ami have read Frank Forester's works on wiug- 

 Bhooting, and have spent a good deal of time frying to be- 

 come a wing-shot, but 1 am unable CO hurt theso grouse as 



they go tearing through brush and aimo-i in,,. 



space, in the most reckless manner, and ai a rate which de- 

 notes that they don't care if they break their necks or dash 

 the lives out oi' themselves against somt object apparetit.lv 

 in the way, aud T doubt very lively w hether any commercial 

 ritha afteen-pound gun and slxteeen drums of 

 powder, would very materially spoil their plumage. 



A predatory animal of the feline tribe has been making 

 its headquarters about here this fall. One man. returning 

 from the country store to his home at night. SBA* it and 

 thought i( was a wildcat; another man out hunting saw it 

 iu a field: he eyed it very close l\ J ■ > t and pro- 



nounced it a lynx. Tbe* animal, perhaps with iew 



forming a more intimate acquaintance with the man with 

 the gun, moved slowly toward him, whereupon the hunter I r) 

 took flight, leaving the alleged hnx to eujoy Hie longer and 

 to feafst upon the tat of the land. 



Several parties of men. hoys and dogs have scoured the 

 mountains north of us at various times for the purpose 

 of endeavoring to capture it; hut iheir efforts thus fat- 

 have been unavailing, as they never gol a glimpse of the 

 monster, although its eties have distinctly- been heard by 

 reliable people. " So Namb. 



[The Indians of the Noitlrwesl coast believe that a black 

 bear with a white spot in its brerst is much more dangerous 

 than those without this mark. Can any of our readers give 

 us any further hints as to whether this belief has general 

 currency among hunters?] 



MASSACHUSETTS CAME NOTES. 



FORTUNATELY for the sportsmen of Massachusetts the 

 snow came on the l?th inst. and put a stop to the 

 slaughter of partridges, for duriug the last three or four 

 weeks of shooting the death rate was fearful. In a letter to 

 Forest asp Stream at the opening of tbe season I pre- 

 dicted excellent partridge shooting, nuti the results have fully 

 justified the prediction. I think I have never known of 

 bigger hags of this most nobie of our game birds, made ttf n 

 abouts, than have been made, by our local sportsmen the 

 present season, not even in those good old days of 1873-4-^S. 

 There may, however, he a reason for this that all do no! top 

 to consider. In those best par ridge years of eight Or tea 

 years ago we had most excellent flights o! woodcock, which 

 helped wonderfully to draw the attention of sportsmen from 

 the partridge. The past two seasons have been exceptiph- 

 allv dry. aud the woodcock flight has been a complete failure 

 both years. 



Tbe habit of keeping a record of our shooting has grown 

 to he almost universal among our shooters and affords a great 

 deal of satisfaction. The comparisons of diffefenl peat > 

 very interesting. My own record the present year" shows 

 a little more than three partridges to one woodedek, while 

 in looking hack several years— I have forgotten the year— I 

 found the record to be about six woodcock to one partridge. 

 Quail have been quite ple.uU for this looalitj u 

 good bags have been made We nave already „ verv large 

 body of snow on the ground and should it contmui 

 winter they will, we fear, fare hard. We have a good stock 



of partridges left oxer anil With another z breeding sea 



sou like the past, good shooting will be assured. Mr. Shat- 

 tuek's store is still the chosen rendezvous of bur sports- 

 men, and about every evening rinds the comfortable 

 arm chairs filled with the "t ran -mil v." ilmosl 

 every sportsman has his little mishaps ' which he 

 would fain keep il profound secret, but somehow 

 thev almost always leak out, and woe to the poor victim if 

 tbe story finds its way to Shatuick's. Not long ago, our 

 friend Jim D. and two others, had a capital day with the 

 partridges, making the splendid bag of twenty. Now Jim is 

 a good Rliol and a right joBy fellow, and when he has a good 

 shot he never fails to report. On the occasion referred to 

 be came in for his evening smoke, and wishing his repot! 

 to sound very large said they nagged twenty partrid -•■ ■ arid 

 two rations, flow if there is any one thing thai woi 

 a Worcester sportsman il is the Idea of mixing up rabbits 

 with a nice bag of birds and. well— it is a stile bet that if he 

 should ever kill another when out bird shooting, in- will 

 never mention it at the. rendezvous. 



The "fur company" is way behind Ihis year, 

 foxes very scarce. As the season is now moo than half 



over I w'ill give the score to date: "Uncle" Nathan Har- 

 rington, 8; A. B. F. Kinney. 2: John SI. White, 1; John K. 

 Thayer, 1; Horace Adams, 3; Leonard Rand. %• A. P. Cut- 

 ting, I: f>. C, Thayer. I; Oharlc- Thayer, 1; Asa E. Jacobs, 



1— total. 15. 



Now that bird shooting is over, the light brush gun will 

 lie cleaned and laid away and (lie heavy ten-gauge will take 

 its place duriug the next eight months. Our club holds 

 both the team badges of the State Association. Mr. W. 

 S. Perry has challenged Mr. Negus, of Fall River, for 

 the individual clay-pigeon badge, and Mr. 0. IS. 

 Holden has challenged Mr. George Tidabury. of Ashland, 

 for the individual glass hall badge, and Saturday. Jan. 10. 

 has been fixed as the date of the match, which will be -hot 

 on the grounds of the Ashland Club. 



The date of the malch between Perry aud Negus lias not 

 bceti named. The result of these matches will be looked for 

 with much interest, as all four men ate first -class shots. 



It will without doubt be lively at our club bouse on Tburs- 

 day afternoon, as it is expected that our club will send a 

 team to the great clay-pigeon tournament at Chi 

 May, and the boys will need to keep up their practice. 



E. SpRAtM E K>:o", j.ls. 

 Pee. U9, 1883. 



who hunts birds lor the market, or for sale, shall first get a 

 permit from the selectmen of the town in which he wishes 

 to shoot, said permit stating the number of birds thev mav 

 be .allowed to kill each season, the number dependingon the 

 supply of game. This is a simple thing to do, and if w, go 

 to work with a will it can be brought about before it is too 

 late. There Is no reason why these fellows should be al- 

 lowed to clean out the birds as they are now doing. If thej 

 want to hunt for the market, let the m go to when- game, is 

 plenty. Two of these fellows killed seventy-five per cent. 



of all the birds shot around here i bis season." Thev followed 

 it every day during the whole season, and .1 think il is time 

 something was done. They pay little attention to posted 

 land, but with the law amended as above, they will be 

 Watched so closely thai it Will not be sai'efor iheni toexceed 

 tie- number allowed very much. SiKviorcr ELjmti. 



DEER HOUNDING IN ST. LAWRENCE. 



E'lil'n- Forest mil Sfnam: 



A correspondent signing the letters "8, W. R.," writes 

 you from Gouverueur. New York, as follows: "The 

 deer on this side the woods have been quite plentiful 

 this fall, and still-huiuers and Iwiittis irit/i ihnj,- ha,;: ,muh- 

 ijnaii iro t rds." Aud again: "The law is partially enforced, 

 but not half hO well as it might lie.' Still again: "Forbid, 

 under a heavy penalty, the marketing of deer, and lima destroy 

 the market-hunters' trade," etc. In these extracts the italics 



Now, a word of explanation iu the interest of game prottiC 

 tion. is solicited: Does your correspondent by "this side 

 the woods," mean to designate St. Lawrence county/ The 

 inqu i is quite pertinent, writing :e be does from its geo- 

 graphical center. If he designates St. Lawrence, and assuni 

 irig, in v iew of his cowplai ut about the non-enforcement of th. 

 law, that his words "good records" tut malapropos, of no 

 allowance to his bosom's truth, there is yet the assertion of 

 dogging, and your readers have a right to assume be has facts 

 for it, Will he furnish them to the St. Lawrence Gun < 'lub 

 — several officers of which are his neighbors— or to Game 

 Protector Leonard, of his district'/ 



Your correspondent must know that on this side the woods 

 —in St. Lawrence county — dogging deer is a crime, and that 

 "Heavy penalties are denounced against it. He must know, 

 too, that large numbers of the best citizens of his county 

 are making~orgunized effort at its prevention aud punish- 

 ment, and that the criminal jurisdiction of the courts is being 

 extensively invoked to that rind. Will he give tbe facts, and 

 so contribute to tiie belter enforcement of the lawsr Come, 

 lei's have them. 



The law don't protect the game. I', is its eiiforcemcnl 

 that ma v accomplish that result. Tiie law is simply a declar- 

 ation of what may not he done with impunity if. law-abiding 

 people will enfor'e criminals. If thev will 



iiot, it i-. an impeachment of Heir „n u loyalty, of " their 

 fidelity to ihe- public interests. Add lo Ihese considerations, 

 especial interest in any reform, notably game and fish pro- 

 tection, and there can be no justification for inattention and 

 inaction. 



Li i i- nave the facts. Thus may some impetus be given 

 to the enforcement of the game law "half so well as it might 

 be." 



Let me put right in here, pat aud plump, a line from the 

 editorial page of Pjukst \ni> Streams— the numher from 

 which the above extracts are taken: 



" \inong all the other good resolutions for tbe year, sup 

 pose yotl adopt one something like this: To talk game pro- 

 tection less, and protect game'ruure." 



The false impressions to be gathered from your corre 

 letter should be corrected, as well in the interest 

 of those visiting St. Lawrence for legitimate sport as of 

 game pronation. X. 



" JJtH. ■!. ISsl. ' 



Kent t oi ntt Cut;.— Grand Kupids, Mich.. Jan. I.-- 

 I'Im Kent County Sportsmen's Club, which has been iu ex- 

 istence since 1875, held its annual meeting at Dr. E. S. 

 Holmes's office last e\eniug. The financial affairs of the 

 ebili were found to be in a satisfactory condition. There 

 arc about forty members at present. The following officers 

 Were elected:" Dr. K. S. Holmes. President; Harry Wid 

 dieomb, Vice-President; A. J. Holt, Secretary, George A. 

 Gould, Treasurer; T. B. V> bite and A. P. Richmond, Direc- 

 tors io fill vacancies. Messrs. J. ('. Parker, E. M. Barn- 

 ard, Han;. Widdicomb, Geo. A. Gould aud M. Nona's 

 were appointed delegates to the auiiual meeting of the 

 State Association to be held at Jackson next Tuesday. II 



Your correspondent "Mergus" (who, I think, lives in the 

 State of Massachusetts) says in his letter in your last issue 

 that a market hunter he knows of has killed tin- past season 

 one hundred and fifty partridges (ruffed grouse), aud the 

 people in that vich.iiy begin lo realize that there will soon 

 be very poor shooting in that neighborhood. I do not agree 

 with "Mergus" when he says there is U0 help for it, for 1 

 think there is a way to put a check to this thing, and it can 

 easily be done if parties interested will lake the trouble to 



see the members of the Legislature l>o,i, then - 



have our game law soaiuenaed the eoming-wiEti \ thai a man 



s for Ha 



was decided to continue giving bo) 

 of hawks and owls. Fifty-three 



year. 1 1 is the opinion of the i 



chili began paying bounties the loss 



birds has largely decreased. The 



wsrp.ath against 'violators of our fish and game laws, and is 



doing what it canto secure "respect for and obedience t 



the laws," aud to make sportsmanship honorable. 



destruction 



e paid last 



since the 



' predatory 



on the 



M.UKJS Game NoT-KS. — A deer was shot by the sou of }ii.r. 

 John Coburn, of Bethel, last month, with No. 6 shot— dis- 

 tance (estimated) ten rods. The deer ran about thirty rods 

 and died. Charge struck him back of foreshoulders and 

 bled him nicely. A few days ago Mr, Marshall Whitney, of 

 Upton, was out on a hunt for caribou and deer near Utnba- 

 gog Lake. He came up»u a bear's den, and while in the act 

 of waking up the hear by punching a pole into the breathing 

 hole on the top of the' den, the surface gave way and pre- 

 cipitatcd Mr. W. into the den. some six feet under Ihe sur- 

 face, almost into the bear's arms. Both hunter and beast 

 were verv touch frightened, but the bear did not deem it 

 safe io stay long, and, with a leap and screech, he went up 

 tb rough tie' same hole about as quick as Mr. W. went in, 

 so they changed places even; but Whitney lost, his bear. 

 Crows are wintering here, which is uncommon, and indi- 

 cates an open winter. Also, pine grosbeaks aud purple 

 finches are abundant. 1 have never observed the grosbeak 

 here so late in tbe winter lit fore. The swamps seem to be 

 lull of them, and we often see from ten to twenty at a time. 

 —J, G. R. (Bethel, Me., Jan. r, 1684). 



,V Goon Fi.ka Preventive.— Visitors to Florida know 

 full well how numerous ihe pesty Ilea is in that State, and 

 lhat one s slumbers are terribly interfered with by them in 

 some sections. A friend just' returned from there told mi- 

 ne found a verv effectual remedy against them by placing 

 between the sheets of his bi ■ a camphor. H 



woulilbe well tot tourist*; to take a supplj withthera, - 

 Homo. 



